Firefighter Severely Burned in ’06 Dies in Staten Island Blaze

The fire burned so hot that it melted a smoke detector, dripping molten plastic through Lt. Robert J. Ryan’s fire jacket and across his neck and shoulders. It was the kind of injury that could have tempted others to leave the Fire Department, but he chose to stay, spending a year recuperating, and returning to work in 2007 with twisted pink scars above his shirt collar.

His determination to return cost him his life. Lieutenant Ryan, 46, coming off the first engine to arrive at a house fire in the New Brighton section of Staten Island on Sunday morning, was killed when the attic ceiling collapsed on him, knocking off his helmet and air mask, the Fire Department said.

“Unconscious, he was carried out of the building by his fellow firefighters who were standing right around him when the accident occurred,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference at Richmond University Medical Center, where Lieutenant Ryan was pronounced dead. “Firefighters and E.M.S. personnel on the scene tried to revive him, but they were, I am sad to say, unsuccessful.”

Lieutenant Ryan is the first member of the department to die while fighting a fire since Jan. 3, when Lt. John H. Martinson was killed in a blaze in a 14th-floor apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

The fire on Sunday appeared to have been caused by faulty electrical wiring, Mr. Bloomberg said, and Battalion Chief John J. McDonnell, the president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of Lieutenant Ryan’s death.

“We are conducting interviews with the other firefighters that were with him, and the other officers, to try to put together exactly what circumstances occurred to create such a tragedy,” Chief McDonnell said. Lieutenant Ryan’s air mask and other equipment have been impounded for inspection.

Capt. Thomas Henri of Engine Company 156 in nearby Castleton, who also battled the fire on Sunday morning, recalled that after Lieutenant Ryan was severely burned in 2006, he spoke only of getting back to work.

“I asked him numerous times, ‘What are you going to do, you going to retire?’ ” Captain Henri said. “He said, ‘I’m not retiring, I’m going back to work.’ ”

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Lt. Robert J. Ryan in an undated family photo.Credit
Mary DiBiase Blaich for The New York Times

Lieutenant Ryan was injured while fighting a fire in Brooklyn on Oct. 3, 2006, when the plastic melted through his protective gear. He did not return to work until 12 months later. The injury was so severe that he was not allowed to go out in the sun without some form of protection for his skin, said Sean Sweeney, a close friend and a former chairman of Community Board 1 on Staten Island.

“He probably could have retired from that, but instead he went back on the job and taught a lot of kids how not to get hurt from his experience,” Mr. Sweeney said.

The rehabilitation was long and painful, said Dr. Michael L. Cooper, director of the Regional Burn Center at Staten Island University Hospital, who helped in Lieutenant Ryan’s treatment.

“Once the burn healed, with a lot of dressing changes over the weeks, there was a lot of raised scarring that was painful,” he said. “And there was a lot of heat sensitivity. It was a potentially career-ending injury. But he was able to tolerate the uniform as well as the heat he received in a fire situation.”

Friends and fellow firefighters said the lieutenant was known as a team-builder during his 17 years with the department. That spirit was clearly reflected after Sept. 11, 2001, when he was assigned to Engine 6 in Manhattan, a company that lost four of its members at the World Trade Center.

“His responsibility was to take a company and bring it back to what it had been,” said Lt. James McGowan, vice president of the fire officers union.

“ ‘Bobby Ryan.’ That name is the answer to a lot of questions around here,” Mr. Sweeney said. “Something to be done or in need of a hand, it’s ‘Bobby Ryan.’ He was a lot of people’s go-to guy, a quiet, determined sweetheart.”

Lieutenant Ryan lived near his firehouse, in the West Brighton neighborhood, with many police officers and firefighters as neighbors. One of them was Captain Henri, who said that Lieutenant Ryan was unusually dedicated.

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The house at 39 Van Buren Street, with white siding, where Lieutenant Ryan was fatally injured. Credit
Mary DiBiase Blaich for The New York Times

Lieutenant Ryan would never leave a fire scene until the last smolder was out, Captain Henri said. “I caught three or four fires with him,” he said. “Even when he was the first-to engine, Bobby did not leave that building until that fire was extinguished.”

Captain Henri said Lieutenant Ryan was “a very professional firefighter,” and he added, “Even on the fire last night, he was nice and calm on the radio, never got excited.”

Lieutenant Ryan was assigned to Engine 155 more than two years ago. He was appointed to the Fire Department on April 14, 1991. Over his career, he was assigned to Engines 228, 280 and 282 in Brooklyn, Engine 6 in Manhattan, the 4th Battalion in Manhattan and the 22nd Battalion on Staten Island. He was promoted to lieutenant in March 2001.

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The fire in which he died was reported at 12:32 a.m. at 39 Van Buren Street. A neighbor, Helen Collins, 26, who had happened to step outside, she smelled smoke and ran to alert the owners, Lorraine and James Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson was not home, but Mrs. Jefferson was awakened in time to flee.

“I rung the doorbell and rung on her door,” Ms. Collins said. “She didn’t know until she came out. She was a nervous wreck. She said, ‘You saved my life; I was sleeping.’ She didn’t even smell the smoke.”

After arriving in the first truck on the scene, Lieutenant Ryan and other firefighters had climbed to the attic with a hose when the collapse occurred. As flames rose higher, firefighters ran out of the house carrying Lieutenant Ryan and screaming for medical help.

Mr. Jefferson, the homeowner, said about noon on Sunday, “Put it like this: Not too many people are going to run into a fire to save somebody else’s stuff.”

At the lieutenant’s firehouse, black and purple bunting had been mounted by Sunday afternoon.

“He’ll leave a huge hole here in Engine Company 155,” Capt. Brian Gorman said. “He did everything for this place.”

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Officials say Lieutenant Ryan was in the attic with other firefighters when it collapsed, knocking off his helmet and mask. Credit
Mary DiBiase Blaich for The New York Times

After his injury in 2006, Lieutenant Ryan dedicated much of his free time to becoming an advocate for burn victims and raising money for burn centers, Captain Gorman said. “He was campaigning pretty much by himself, going from firehouse to firehouse.”

He often ran drills with younger firefighters — including one on Saturday night in which they practiced rescuing an unconscious firefighter.

“He was a fireman’s fireman,” Captain Gorman said.

Lieutenant Ryan painted houses on the side for extra money, neighbors said.

“I consider Bob an angel,” said Rita Formica, a neighbor and a retired science teacher. “When he painted my house, he went above and beyond the call, made sure all my alarms were working, did this whole ceiling for me. He was so careful to make sure that nothing happened.”

Like many people in the neighborhood, Ms. Formica heard of Lieutenant Ryan’s death during Mass at St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus Church, even though he belonged to another parish.

Lieutenant Ryan’s pastor, the Rev. Louis R. Jerome of the Church of the Sacred Heart, said Lieutenant Ryan spent Saturday visiting colleges in the Philadelphia area with his son, Christopher, 17, a senior at St. Peter’s Boys High School on Staten Island.

“He’s dedicated to his family, his community and his church,” Father Jerome said. “This summer, he painted all of the railings and the doors of the church on his own without being asked.”

Besides his son, Lieutenant Ryan is survived by his wife, Kathleen; a daughter, Kayla, 12; a stepson, Alex, 10; and a stepdaughter, Emma, 8.

Lieutenant Ryan continued working with the burn unit at Staten Island University Hospital after he returned to firefighting, and he would contact Dr. Cooper whenever an injured firefighter was sent there. He also helped with a toy drive and arranged for doctors to speak at schools. When the burn center was renamed for its former director, Dr. Jerome L. Finkelstein, a month ago, Lieutenant Ryan attended the ceremony.

“Lieutenant Ryan spoke and thanked the center for allowing him to fulfill his dream of getting back to work and doing what he loved,” Dr. Cooper said.